2FA codes in your Mac menu bar, behind Touch ID

Switchy keeps your two-factor codes in a Codes tab next to the clock. Each code counts down, and one click copies it. The secrets live in your Mac's Keychain, sync through iCloud Keychain if it's on, and stay locked until you use Touch ID. It costs $4.99 once after a 7-day trial, on macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

What you get

The Codes tab lists your accounts with the current code and a ring that shows how long it has left. You can give an account a nickname, a color and a website, and pin the ones you use most to the top. Once you have five or more accounts, a search field appears. Each row shows the service's icon, which Switchy asks for from that service's own website, so no third party learns which services you use. You can turn icons off in Settings → Codes.

Add an account

Open the Codes tab and click "Add account". You have four ways in:

1. Scan QR on screen. When a website shows its 2FA QR code, pick that window. Switchy captures it once, in memory, and reads the code.
2. From image. Drop in a screenshot of a QR code.
3. Enter setup key. Paste the text key a site gives you, or a full otpauth:// link. Add the service and your email or username so you can tell accounts apart.
4. Move from Google Authenticator. Export your accounts in Google Authenticator on your phone and hold the export QR up to your Mac's camera. Switchy reads every account in it at once and lets you review them before they're saved. The camera image never leaves your Mac.

If an account is already in Switchy, it tells you instead of adding a copy.

Copy a code

Click a row and the code is on your clipboard, with a short "Copied" note. Switchy marks the copied code so clipboard managers skip it and don't save it. It clears the clipboard after 30 seconds, and when you quit, unless you have copied something else since.

Locked with Touch ID

Your codes stay locked until you unlock them with Touch ID or your Mac password. After that they lock again when you haven't used them for 5 minutes. In Settings → Codes you can pick 1 minute, 15 minutes, 1 hour, or only when your Mac sleeps or locks. Sleep, display sleep, screen lock and switching users always lock them.

While the codes are unlocked, Switchy asks macOS to keep the panel out of screenshots, screen recordings and screen sharing. Tools that ignore that request can still see it.

Keychain and iCloud Keychain sync

Each account's secret is stored in the macOS Keychain. If iCloud Keychain is on, your accounts sync to your other Macs signed in to the same Apple Account. Apple encrypts iCloud Keychain end to end, so neither Apple nor I can read your codes. If iCloud Keychain is off, your codes stay on this Mac.

Two things to know. Deleting an account removes it from every Mac that syncs, so turn off 2FA for that site first. And if you turn iCloud Keychain off later, macOS may remove the synced codes from this Mac, so keep a backup.

Back up and restore

1. Open Settings → Codes and click "Export backup…".
2. Confirm with Touch ID. Export always asks again, even if your codes are already unlocked.
3. Choose a password of at least 12 characters and save the .switchycodes file wherever you like.
4. To restore, click "Import backup…", pick the file and enter the password.

The file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM, using a key derived from your password with PBKDF2-SHA256. Without the password, the file can't be opened. If you lose the password, I can't recover it.

What it doesn't do

Switchy runs on your Mac only. Keep a second copy of important codes, on your phone or in a backup, so you can still sign in when you're away from your Mac.

Counter-based (HOTP) codes aren't supported. Neither are other apps' export files: you can bring codes over with a Google Authenticator export QR, a QR code or a setup key.

Backups are in Switchy's own encrypted format. Switchy can't export plain setup keys or QR codes for other apps.

Sync needs iCloud Keychain. Without it, each Mac keeps its own codes, and a backup file is how you move them.

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